Pooling of network processing resources

ABSTRACT

Examples described herein relate to a switch configured to allocate packet processing resources, from a pool of packet processing resources, to multiple applications, wherein the pool of packet processing resources comprise configurable packet processing pipelines of one or more network devices and packet processing resources of one or more servers. In some examples, the configurable packet processing pipelines and the packet processing resources are to perform one or more of: network switch operations, microservice communications, and/or block storage operations. In some examples, the network switch operations comprise one or more of: application of at least one access control list (ACL), packet forwarding, packet routing, and/or Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) or GENEVE termination. In some examples, the microservice communications comprise one or more of: packet routing between microservices and/or load balancing of utilized microservices.

Software-defined networking (SDN) technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring. SDN was commonly associated with the OpenFlow protocol for remote communication with network plane elements for determining a path of network packets across network switches. Programming Protocol-Independent Packet Processors (P4) language provides for programming network devices. P4 is supported by network device vendors, e.g., Barefoot Networks Tofino reconfigurable match-action tables (RMT), Intel® FlexPipe, Cavium XPliant Packet Architecture (XPA), and Cisco® Nexus etc.

Some Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) build their data centers using proprietary private communications protocols designed for particular applications. In modern data center design, protocols are created, modified, or removed by CSPs regularly along with their software or application updates. This type of networking is referred to as Application Owned Networking (AON). AON may utilize a private protocol stack to work in a particular data center environment. Network Address Translation (NAT), Connection Tracking, etc. are parts of traditional networking and are designed for a standard protocol stack to serve a variety of applications. In some cases, an application has a corresponding new segmentation and session solution rather than using a standard and traditional NAT and Connection Tracking. If stability or performance arise with segmentation and session solutions, those issues can be addressed as a software or hardware issue. Outside of the data center, standardized protocols may be used and protocol translation can occur at an ingress/egress gateway in the edge of the data center.

OpenStack Networking is a known model for coordinated networking using cloud orchestration. OpenStack Networking deploys processes across a number of nodes and the processes interact with each other and other OpenStack services. A Neutron server exposes the OpenStack Networking application program interface (API) and passes tenant requests for additional processing. Cloud orchestration can coordinate operations of networking elements such as a switch, network interface card, and virtual network function (VNF). Trellis is a cloud infrastructure application based Open Network Operating System (ONOS®) software defined networking (SDN) controller platform. Utilizing Trellis, SDN controller can manage all network functions including a leaf switch and overlay fabric in compute nodes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram of at least one embodiment of a data center for executing workloads with disaggregated resources.

FIG. 2 is a simplified diagram of at least one embodiment of a system that may be included in a data center.

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram of at least one embodiment of a top side of a node.

FIG. 4 is a simplified block diagram of at least one embodiment of a bottom side of a node.

FIG. 5 is a simplified block diagram of at least one embodiment of a compute node.

FIG. 6 is a simplified block diagram of at least one embodiment of an accelerator node usable in a data center.

FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram of at least one embodiment of a storage node usable in a data center.

FIG. 8 is a simplified block diagram of at least one embodiment of a memory node usable in a data center.

FIG. 9 depicts a system for executing one or more workloads.

FIG. 10 depicts an example system.

FIG. 11 shows an example system.

FIG. 12 depicts an example system.

FIGS. 13-15 depict example system configurations.

FIG. 16 depicts an example process.

FIG. 17 depicts an example network interface.

FIG. 18 depicts an example switch.

FIG. 19 depicts an example packet processing system.

FIG. 20 depicts an example computing system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 depicts a data center in which disaggregated resources may cooperatively execute one or more workloads (e.g., applications on behalf of customers) that includes multiple systems 110, 70, 130, 80, a system being or including one or more rows of racks, racks, or trays. Of course, although data center 100 is shown with multiple systems, in some embodiments, the data center 100 may be embodied as a single system. As described in more detail herein, each rack houses multiple nodes, some of which may be equipped with one or more type of resources (e.g., memory devices, data storage devices, accelerator devices, general purpose processors, GPUs, xPUs, CPUs, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs)). Resources can be logically coupled or aggregated to form a composed node or composite node, which can act as, for example, a server to perform a job, workload or microservices.

Various examples described herein can perform an application composed of microservices, where each microservice runs in its own process and communicates using protocols (e.g., application program interface (API), a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) resource API, message service, remote procedure calls (RPC), or Google RPC (gRPC)). Microservices can be independently deployed using centralized management of these services. The management system may be written in different programming languages and use different data storage technologies. A microservice can be characterized by one or more of: use of fine-grained interfaces (to independently deployable services), polyglot programming (e.g., code written in multiple languages to capture additional functionality and efficiency not available in a single language), or lightweight container or virtual machine deployment, and decentralized continuous microservice delivery.

In the illustrative embodiment, the nodes in each system 110, 70, 130, 80 are connected to multiple system switches (e.g., switches that route data communications to and from nodes within the system). Switches can be positioned top of rack (TOR), end of row (EOR), middle of rack (MOR), or a position in a rack or row. The system switches, in turn, connect with spine switches 90 that switch communications among systems (e.g., the systems 110, 70, 130, 80) in the data center 100. In some embodiments, the nodes may be connected with a fabric using standards described herein or proprietary standards. In other embodiments, the nodes may be connected with other fabrics, such as InfiniB and or Ethernet. As described in more detail herein, resources within nodes in the data center 100 may be allocated to a group (referred to herein as a “managed node”) containing resources from one or more nodes to be collectively utilized in the execution of a workload. The workload can execute as if the resources belonging to the managed node were located on the same node. The resources in a managed node may belong to nodes belonging to different racks, and even to different systems 110, 70, 130, 80. As such, some resources of a single node may be allocated to one managed node while other resources of the same node are allocated to a different managed node (e.g., one processor assigned to one managed node and another processor of the same node assigned to a different managed node).

The disaggregation of resources to nodes comprised predominantly of a single type of resource (e.g., compute nodes comprising primarily compute resources, memory nodes containing primarily memory resources), and the selective allocation and deallocation of the disaggregated resources to form a managed node assigned to execute a workload improves the operation and resource usage of the data center 100 relative to typical data centers comprised of hyperconverged servers containing compute, memory, storage and perhaps additional resources. For example, because nodes predominantly contain resources of a particular type, resources of a given type can be upgraded independently of other resources. Additionally, because different resources types (processors, memory, storage, accelerators, etc.) typically have different refresh rates, greater resource utilization and reduced total cost of ownership may be achieved. For example, a data center operator can upgrade the processors throughout their facility by only swapping out the compute nodes. In such a case, accelerator and storage resources may not be contemporaneously upgraded and, rather, may be allowed to continue operating until those resources are scheduled for their own refresh. Resource utilization may also increase. For example, if managed nodes are composed based on requirements of the workloads that will be running on them, resources within a node are more likely to be fully utilized. Such utilization may allow for more managed nodes to run in a data center with a given set of resources, or for a data center expected to run a given set of workloads, to be built using fewer resources.

FIG. 2 depicts a system. A system can include a set of rows 200, 210, 220, 230 of racks 240. Each rack 240 may house multiple nodes (e.g., sixteen nodes) and provide power and data connections to the housed nodes, as described in more detail herein. In the illustrative embodiment, the racks in each row 200, 210, 220, 230 are connected to multiple system switches 250, 260. The system switch 250 includes a set of ports 252 to which the nodes of the racks of the system 110 are connected and another set of ports 254 that connect the system 110 to the spine switches 90 to provide connectivity to other systems in the data center 100. Similarly, the system switch 260 includes a set of ports 262 to which the nodes of the racks of the system 110 are connected and a set of ports 264 that connect the system 110 to the spine switches 90. As such, the use of the pair of switches 250, 260 provides an amount of redundancy to the system 110. For example, if either of the switches 250, 260 fails, the nodes in the system 110 may still maintain data communication with the remainder of the data center 100 (e.g., nodes of other systems) through the other switch 250, 260. Furthermore, in the illustrative embodiment, the switches 90, 250, 260 may be embodied as dual-mode optical switches, capable of routing both Ethernet protocol communications carrying Internet Protocol (IP) packets and communications according to a second, high-performance link-layer protocol (e.g., PCI Express or Compute Express Link) via optical signaling media of an optical fabric.

It should be appreciated that each of the other systems 70, 130, 80 (as well as additional systems of the data center 100) may be similarly structured as, and have components similar to, the system 110 shown in and described in regard to FIG. 2 (e.g., each system may have rows of racks housing multiple nodes as described above). Additionally, while two system switches 250, 260 are shown, it should be understood that in other embodiments, each system 110, 70, 130, 80 may be connected to a different number of system switches, providing even more failover capacity. Of course, in other embodiments, systems may be arranged differently than the rows-of-racks configuration shown in FIGS. 1-2. For example, a system may be embodied as multiple sets of racks in which each set of racks is arranged radially, e.g., the racks are equidistant from a center switch.

Referring now to FIG. 3, node 400, in the illustrative embodiment, is configured to be mounted in a corresponding rack 240 of the data center 100 as discussed above. In some embodiments, each node 400 may be optimized or otherwise configured for performing particular tasks, such as compute tasks, acceleration tasks, data storage tasks, etc. For example, the node 400 may be embodied as a compute node 500 as discussed below in regard to FIG. 5, an accelerator node 600 as discussed below in regard to FIG. 6, a storage node 700 as discussed below in regard to FIG. 7, or as a node optimized or otherwise configured to perform other specialized tasks, such as a memory node 800, discussed below in regard to FIG. 8.

Although two physical resources 320 are shown in FIG. 3, it should be appreciated that the node 400 may include one, two, or more physical resources 320 in other embodiments. The physical resources 320 may be embodied as any type of processor, controller, or other compute circuit capable of performing various tasks such as compute functions and/or controlling the functions of the node 400 depending on, for example, the type or intended functionality of the node 400. For example, as discussed in more detail below, the physical resources 320 may be embodied as high-performance processors in embodiments in which the node 400 is embodied as a compute node, as accelerator co-processors or circuits in embodiments in which the node 400 is embodied as an accelerator node, storage controllers in embodiments in which the node 400 is embodied as a storage node, or a set of memory devices in embodiments in which the node 400 is embodied as a memory node.

The node 400 also includes one or more additional physical resources 330 mounted to circuit board substrate 302. In the illustrative embodiment, the additional physical resources include a network interface controller (NIC) as discussed in more detail below. Of course, depending on the type and functionality of the node 400, the physical resources 330 may include additional or other electrical components, circuits, and/or devices in other embodiments.

The physical resources 320 can be communicatively coupled to the physical resources 330 via an input/output (I/O) subsystem 322. The I/O subsystem 322 may be embodied as circuitry and/or components to facilitate input/output operations with the physical resources 320, the physical resources 330, and/or other components of the node 400. For example, the I/O subsystem 322 may be embodied as, or otherwise include, memory controller hubs, input/output control hubs, integrated sensor hubs, firmware devices, communication links (e.g., point-to-point links, bus links, wires, cables, waveguides, light guides, printed circuit board traces, etc.), and/or other components and subsystems to facilitate the input/output operations. In the illustrative embodiment, the I/O subsystem 322 is embodied as, or otherwise includes, a double data rate 4 (DDR4) data bus or a DDR5 data bus.

In some embodiments, the node 400 may also include a resource-to-resource interconnect 324. The resource-to-resource interconnect 324 may be embodied as any type of communication interconnect capable of facilitating resource-to-resource communications. In the illustrative embodiment, the resource-to-resource interconnect 324 is embodied as a high-speed point-to-point interconnect (e.g., faster than the I/O subsystem 322). For example, the resource-to-resource interconnect 324 may be embodied as a QuickPath Interconnect (QPI), an UltraPath Interconnect (UPI), PCI express (PCIe), or other high-speed point-to-point interconnect dedicated to resource-to-resource communications.

The node 400 also includes a power connector 340 configured to mate with a corresponding power connector of the rack 240 when the node 400 is mounted in the corresponding rack 240. The node 400 receives power from a power supply of the rack 240 via the power connector 340 to supply power to the various electrical components of the node 400. In some examples, the node 400 includes local power supply (e.g., an on-board power supply) to provide power to the electrical components of the node 400. In some examples, the node 400 does not include any local power supply (e.g., an on-board power supply) to provide power to the electrical components of the node 400. The exclusion of a local or on-board power supply facilitates the reduction in the overall footprint of the circuit board substrate 302, which may increase the thermal cooling characteristics of the various electrical components mounted on the circuit board substrate 302 as discussed above. In some embodiments, voltage regulators are placed on circuit board substrate 302 directly opposite of the processors 520 (see FIG. 5), and power is routed from the voltage regulators to the processors 520 by vias extending through the circuit board substrate 302. Such a configuration provides an increased thermal budget, additional current and/or voltage, and better voltage control relative to typical printed circuit boards in which processor power is delivered from a voltage regulator, in part, by printed circuit traces.

In some embodiments, the node 400 may also include mounting features 342 configured to mate with a mounting arm, or other structure, of a robot to facilitate the placement of the node 300 in a rack 240 by the robot. The mounting features 342 may be embodied as any type of physical structures that allow the robot to grasp the node 400 without damaging the circuit board substrate 302 or the electrical components mounted thereto. For example, in some embodiments, the mounting features 342 may be embodied as non-conductive pads attached to the circuit board substrate 302. In other embodiments, the mounting features may be embodied as brackets, braces, or other similar structures attached to the circuit board substrate 302. The particular number, shape, size, and/or make-up of the mounting feature 342 may depend on the design of the robot configured to manage the node 400.

Referring now to FIG. 4, in addition to the physical resources 330 mounted on circuit board substrate 302, the node 400 also includes one or more memory devices 420. The physical resources 320 can be communicatively coupled to memory devices 420 via the I/O subsystem 322. For example, the physical resources 320 and the memory devices 420 may be communicatively coupled by one or more vias extending through the circuit board substrate 302. A physical resource 320 may be communicatively coupled to a different set of one or more memory devices 420 in some embodiments. Alternatively, in other embodiments, each physical resource 320 may be communicatively coupled to each memory device 420.

The memory devices 420 may be embodied as any type of memory device capable of storing data for the physical resources 320 during operation of the node 400, such as any type of volatile (e.g., dynamic random access memory (DRAM), etc.) or non-volatile memory. Volatile memory may be a storage medium that requires power to maintain the state of data stored by the medium. Non-limiting examples of volatile memory may include various types of random access memory (RAM), such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM) or static random access memory (SRAM). One particular type of DRAM that may be used in a memory module is synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM). In particular embodiments, DRAM of a memory component may comply with a standard promulgated by JEDEC, such as JESD79F for DDR SDRAM, JESD79-2F for DDR2 SDRAM, JESD79-3F for DDR3 SDRAM, JESD79-4A for DDR4 SDRAM, JESD209 for Low Power DDR (LPDDR), JESD209-2 for LPDDR2, JESD209-3 for LPDDR3, and JESD209-4 for LPDDR4. Such standards (and similar standards) may be referred to as DDR-based standards and communication interfaces of the storage devices that implement such standards may be referred to as DDR-based interfaces.

In one embodiment, the memory device is a block addressable memory device, such as those based on NAND or NOR technologies, for example, multi-threshold level NAND flash memory and NOR flash memory. A block can be any size such as but not limited to 2 KB, 4 KB, 5 KB, and so forth. A memory device may also include next-generation nonvolatile devices, such as Intel Optane® memory or other byte addressable write-in-place nonvolatile memory devices (e.g., memory devices that use chalcogenide glass), multi-threshold level NAND flash memory, NOR flash memory, single or multi-level Phase Change Memory (PCM), a resistive memory, nanowire memory, ferroelectric transistor random access memory (FeTRAM), anti-ferroelectric memory, magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) memory that incorporates memristor technology, resistive memory including the metal oxide base, the oxygen vacancy base and the conductive bridge Random Access Memory (CB-RAM), or spin transfer torque (STT)-MRAM, a spintronic magnetic junction memory based device, a magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) based device, a DW (Domain Wall) and SOT (Spin Orbit Transfer) based device, a thyristor based memory device, or a combination of one or more of the above, or other memory. The memory device may refer to the die itself and/or to a packaged memory product. In some embodiments, the memory device may comprise a transistor-less stackable cross point architecture in which memory cells sit at the intersection of word lines and bit lines and are individually addressable and in which bit storage is based on a change in bulk resistance.

Referring now to FIG. 5, in some embodiments, the node 400 may be embodied as a compute node 500. The compute node 500 can be configured to perform compute tasks. Of course, as discussed above, the compute node 500 may rely on other nodes, such as acceleration nodes and/or storage nodes, to perform compute tasks. In the illustrative compute node 500, the physical resources 320 are embodied as processors 520. Although only two processors 520 are shown in FIG. 5, it should be appreciated that the compute node 500 may include additional processors 520 in other embodiments. Illustratively, the processors 520 are embodied as high-performance processors 520 and may be configured to operate at a relatively high power rating.

In some embodiments, the compute node 500 may also include a processor-to-processor interconnect 542. Processor-to-processor interconnect 542 may be embodied as any type of communication interconnect capable of facilitating processor-to-processor interconnect 542 communications. In the illustrative embodiment, the processor-to-processor interconnect 542 is embodied as a high-speed point-to-point interconnect (e.g., faster than the I/O subsystem 322). For example, the processor-to-processor interconnect 542 may be embodied as a QuickPath Interconnect (QPI), an UltraPath Interconnect (UPI), or other high-speed point-to-point interconnect dedicated to processor-to-processor communications (e.g., PCIe or CXL).

The compute node 500 also includes a communication circuit 530. The illustrative communication circuit 530 includes a network interface controller (NIC) 532, which may also be referred to as a host fabric interface (HFI). The NIC 532 may be embodied as, or otherwise include, any type of integrated circuit, discrete circuits, controller chips, chipsets, add-in-boards, daughtercards, network interface cards, or other devices that may be used by the compute node 500 to connect with another compute device (e.g., with other nodes 400). In some embodiments, the NIC 532 may be embodied as part of a system-on-a-chip (SoC) that includes one or more processors, or included on a multichip package that also contains one or more processors. In some embodiments, the NIC 532 may include a local processor (not shown) and/or a local memory (not shown) that are both local to the NIC 532. In such embodiments, the local processor of the NIC 532 may be capable of performing one or more of the functions of the processors 520. Additionally or alternatively, in such embodiments, the local memory of the NIC 532 may be integrated into one or more components of the compute node at the board level, socket level, chip level, and/or other levels. In some examples, a network interface includes a network interface controller or a network interface card. In some examples, a network interface can include one or more of a network interface controller (NIC) 532, a host fabric interface (HFI), a host bus adapter (HBA), network interface connected to a bus or connection (e.g., PCIe, CXL, DDR, and so forth). In some examples, a network interface can be part of a switch or a system-on-chip (SoC).

Some examples of a NIC are part of an Infrastructure Processing Unit (IPU) or data processing unit (DPU) or utilized by an IPU or DPU. An IPU or DPU can include a network interface, memory devices, and one or more programmable or fixed function processors (e.g., CPU or XPU) to perform offload of operations that could have been performed by a host CPU or XPU or remote CPU or XPU. In some examples, the IPU or DPU can perform virtual switch operations, manage storage transactions (e.g., compression, cryptography, virtualization), and manage operations performed on other IPUs, DPUs, servers, or devices.

The communication circuit 530 is communicatively coupled to an optical data connector 534. The optical data connector 534 is configured to mate with a corresponding optical data connector of a rack when the compute node 500 is mounted in the rack. Illustratively, the optical data connector 534 includes a plurality of optical fibers which lead from a mating surface of the optical data connector 534 to an optical transceiver 536. The optical transceiver 536 is configured to convert incoming optical signals from the rack-side optical data connector to electrical signals and to convert electrical signals to outgoing optical signals to the rack-side optical data connector. Although shown as forming part of the optical data connector 534 in the illustrative embodiment, the optical transceiver 536 may form a portion of the communication circuit 530 in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, the compute node 500 may also include an expansion connector 540. In such embodiments, the expansion connector 540 is configured to mate with a corresponding connector of an expansion circuit board substrate to provide additional physical resources to the compute node 500. The additional physical resources may be used, for example, by the processors 520 during operation of the compute node 500. The expansion circuit board substrate may be substantially similar to the circuit board substrate 302 discussed above and may include various electrical components mounted thereto. The particular electrical components mounted to the expansion circuit board substrate may depend on the intended functionality of the expansion circuit board substrate. For example, the expansion circuit board substrate may provide additional compute resources, memory resources, and/or storage resources. As such, the additional physical resources of the expansion circuit board substrate may include, but is not limited to, processors, memory devices, storage devices, and/or accelerator circuits including, for example, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), security co-processors, graphics processing units (GPUs), machine learning circuits, or other specialized processors, controllers, devices, and/or circuits. Note that reference to GPU or CPU herein can in addition or alternatively refer to an XPU or xPU. An xPU can include one or more of: a GPU, ASIC, FPGA, or accelerator device.

Referring now to FIG. 6, in some embodiments, the node 400 may be embodied as an accelerator node 600. The accelerator node 600 is configured to perform specialized compute tasks, such as machine learning, encryption, hashing, or other computational-intensive task. In some embodiments, for example, a compute node 500 may offload tasks to the accelerator node 600 during operation. The accelerator node 600 includes various components similar to components of the node 400 and/or compute node 500, which have been identified in FIG. 6 using the same reference numbers.

In the illustrative accelerator node 600, the physical resources 320 are embodied as accelerator circuits 620. Although only two accelerator circuits 620 are shown in FIG. 6, it should be appreciated that the accelerator node 600 may include additional accelerator circuits 620 in other embodiments. The accelerator circuits 620 may be embodied as any type of processor, co-processor, compute circuit, or other device capable of performing compute or processing operations. For example, the accelerator circuits 620 may be embodied as, for example, central processing units, cores, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable control logic (PCL), security co-processors, graphics processing units (GPUs), neuromorphic processor units, quantum computers, machine learning circuits, programmable processing pipeline (e.g., programmable by P4, C, Python, Broadcom Network Programming Language (NPL), or x86 compatible executable binaries or other executable binaries). Processors, FPGAs, other specialized processors, controllers, devices, and/or circuits can be used utilized for packet processing or packet modification. Ternary content-addressable memory (TCAM) can be used for parallel match-action or look-up operations on packet header content.

In some embodiments, the accelerator node 600 may also include an accelerator-to-accelerator interconnect 642. Similar to the resource-to-resource interconnect 324 of the node 300 discussed above, the accelerator-to-accelerator interconnect 642 may be embodied as any type of communication interconnect capable of facilitating accelerator-to-accelerator communications. In the illustrative embodiment, the accelerator-to-accelerator interconnect 642 is embodied as a high-speed point-to-point interconnect (e.g., faster than the I/O subsystem 322). For example, the accelerator-to-accelerator interconnect 642 may be embodied as a QuickPath Interconnect (QPI), an UltraPath Interconnect (UPI), or other high-speed point-to-point interconnect dedicated to processor-to-processor communications. In some embodiments, the accelerator circuits 620 may be daisy-chained with a primary accelerator circuit 620 connected to the NIC 532 and memory 420 through the I/O subsystem 322 and a secondary accelerator circuit 620 connected to the NIC 532 and memory 420 through a primary accelerator circuit 620.

Referring now to FIG. 7, in some embodiments, the node 400 may be embodied as a storage node 700. The storage node 700 is configured, to store data in a data storage 750 local to the storage node 700. For example, during operation, a compute node 500 or an accelerator node 600 may store and retrieve data from the data storage 750 of the storage node 700. The storage node 700 includes various components similar to components of the node 400 and/or the compute node 500, which have been identified in FIG. 7 using the same reference numbers.

In the illustrative storage node 700, the physical resources 320 are embodied as storage controllers 720. Although only two storage controllers 720 are shown in FIG. 7, it should be appreciated that the storage node 700 may include additional storage controllers 720 in other embodiments. The storage controllers 720 may be embodied as any type of processor, controller, or control circuit capable of controlling the storage and retrieval of data into the data storage 750 based on requests received via the communication circuit 530. In the illustrative embodiment, the storage controllers 720 are embodied as relatively low-power processors or controllers.

In some embodiments, the storage node 700 may also include a controller-to-controller interconnect 742. Similar to the resource-to-resource interconnect 324 of the node 400 discussed above, the controller-to-controller interconnect 742 may be embodied as any type of communication interconnect capable of facilitating controller-to-controller communications. In the illustrative embodiment, the controller-to-controller interconnect 742 is embodied as a high-speed point-to-point interconnect (e.g., faster than the I/O subsystem 322). For example, the controller-to-controller interconnect 742 may be embodied as a QuickPath Interconnect (QPI), an UltraPath Interconnect (UPI), or other high-speed point-to-point interconnect dedicated to processor-to-processor communications.

Referring now to FIG. 8, in some embodiments, the node 400 may be embodied as a memory node 800. The memory node 800 is configured to provide other nodes 400 (e.g., compute nodes 500, accelerator nodes 600, etc.) with access to a pool of memory (e.g., in two or more sets 830, 832 of memory devices 420) local to the storage node 700. For example, during operation, a compute node 500 or an accelerator node 600 may remotely write to and/or read from one or more of the memory sets 830, 832 of the memory node 800 using a logical address space that maps to physical addresses in the memory sets 830, 832.

In the illustrative memory node 800, the physical resources 320 are embodied as memory controllers 820. Although only two memory controllers 820 are shown in FIG. 8, it should be appreciated that the memory node 800 may include additional memory controllers 820 in other embodiments. The memory controllers 820 may be embodied as any type of processor, controller, or control circuit capable of controlling the writing and reading of data into the memory sets 830, 832 based on requests received via the communication circuit 530. In the illustrative embodiment, each memory controller 820 is connected to a corresponding memory set 830, 832 to write to and read from memory devices 420 within the corresponding memory set 830, 832 and enforce a permissions (e.g., read, write, etc.) associated with node 400 that has sent a request to the memory node 800 to perform a memory access operation (e.g., read or write).

In some embodiments, the memory node 800 may also include a controller-to-controller interconnect 842. Similar to the resource-to-resource interconnect 324 of the node 400 discussed above, the controller-to-controller interconnect 842 may be embodied as any type of communication interconnect capable of facilitating controller-to-controller communications. In the illustrative embodiment, the controller-to-controller interconnect 842 is embodied as a high-speed point-to-point interconnect (e.g., faster than the I/O subsystem 322). For example, the controller-to-controller interconnect 842 may be embodied as a QuickPath Interconnect (QPI), an UltraPath Interconnect (UPI), or other high-speed point-to-point interconnect dedicated to processor-to-processor communications. As such, in some embodiments, a memory controller 820 may access, through the controller-to-controller interconnect 842, memory that is within the memory set 832 associated with another memory controller 820. In some embodiments, a scalable memory controller is made of multiple smaller memory controllers, referred to herein as “chiplets”, on a memory node (e.g., the memory node 800). The chiplets may be interconnected (e.g., using EMIB (Embedded Multi-Die Interconnect Bridge)). The combined chiplet memory controller may scale up to a relatively large number of memory controllers and I/O ports, (e.g., up to 16 memory channels). In some embodiments, the memory controllers 820 may implement a memory interleave (e.g., one memory address is mapped to the memory set 830, the next memory address is mapped to the memory set 832, and the third address is mapped to the memory set 830, etc.). The interleaving may be managed within the memory controllers 820, or from CPU sockets (e.g., of the compute node 500) across network links to the memory sets 830, 832, and may improve the latency associated with performing memory access operations as compared to accessing contiguous memory addresses from the same memory device.

Further, in some embodiments, the memory node 800 may be connected to one or more other nodes 400 (e.g., in the same rack 240 or an adjacent rack 240) through a waveguide, using the waveguide connector 880. Using a waveguide may provide high throughput access to the memory pool (e.g., the memory sets 830, 832) to another node (e.g., a node 400 in the same rack 240 or an adjacent rack 240 as the memory node 800) without adding to the load on the optical data connector 534.

Referring now to FIG. 9, a system for executing one or more workloads (e.g., applications) may be implemented. In the illustrative embodiment, the system 910 includes an orchestrator server 920, which may be embodied as a managed node comprising a compute device (e.g., a processor 520 on a compute node 500) executing management software (e.g., a cloud operating environment, such as OpenStack) that is communicatively coupled to multiple nodes 400 including a large number of compute nodes 930 (e.g., each similar to the compute node 500), memory nodes 940 (e.g., each similar to the memory node 800), accelerator nodes 950 (e.g., each similar to the memory node 600), and storage nodes 960 (e.g., each similar to the storage node 700). One or more of the nodes 930, 940, 950, 960 may be grouped into a managed node 970, such as by the orchestrator server 920, to collectively perform a workload (e.g., an application 932 executed in a virtual machine or in a container).

The managed node 970 may be embodied as an assembly of physical resources 320, such as processors 520, memory resources 420, accelerator circuits 620, or data storage 750, from the same or different nodes 400. Further, the managed node may be established, defined, or “spun up” by the orchestrator server 920 at the time a workload is to be assigned to the managed node or at a time, and may exist regardless of whether a workload is presently assigned to the managed node. In the illustrative embodiment, the orchestrator server 920 may selectively allocate and/or deallocate physical resources 320 from the nodes 400 and/or add or remove one or more nodes 400 from the managed node 970 as a function of quality of service (QoS) targets (e.g., a target throughput, a target latency, a target number instructions per second, etc.) associated with a service level agreement or class of service (COS or CLOS) for the workload (e.g., the application 932). In doing so, the orchestrator server 920 may receive telemetry data indicative of performance conditions (e.g., throughput, latency, instructions per second, etc.) in each node 400 of the managed node 970 and compare the telemetry data to the quality of service targets to determine whether the quality of service targets are being satisfied. The orchestrator server 920 may additionally determine whether one or more physical resources may be deallocated from the managed node 970 while still satisfying the QoS targets, thereby freeing up those physical resources for use in another managed node (e.g., to execute a different workload). Alternatively, if the QoS targets are not presently satisfied, the orchestrator server 920 may determine to dynamically allocate additional physical resources to assist in the execution of the workload (e.g., the application 932) while the workload is executing. Similarly, the orchestrator server 920 may determine to dynamically deallocate physical resources from a managed node if the orchestrator server 920 determines that deallocating the physical resource would result in QoS targets still being met.

Additionally, in some embodiments, the orchestrator server 920 may identify trends in the resource utilization of the workload (e.g., the application 932), such as by identifying phases of execution (e.g., time periods in which different operations, each having different resource utilizations characteristics, are performed) of the workload (e.g., the application 932) and pre-emptively identifying available resources in the data center and allocating them to the managed node 970 (e.g., within a predefined time period of the associated phase beginning). In some embodiments, the orchestrator server 920 may model performance based on various latencies and a distribution scheme to place workloads among compute nodes and other resources (e.g., accelerator nodes, memory nodes, storage nodes) in the data center. For example, the orchestrator server 920 may utilize a model that accounts for the performance of resources on the nodes 400 (e.g., FPGA performance, memory access latency, etc.) and the performance (e.g., congestion, latency, bandwidth) of the path through the network to the resource (e.g., FPGA). As such, the orchestrator server 920 may determine which resource(s) should be used with which workloads based on the total latency associated with each potential resource available in the data center 100 (e.g., the latency associated with the performance of the resource itself in addition to the latency associated with the path through the network between the compute node executing the workload and the node 400 on which the resource is located).

In some embodiments, the orchestrator server 920 may generate a map of heat generation in the data center 100 using telemetry data (e.g., temperatures, fan speeds, etc.) reported from the nodes 400 and allocate resources to managed nodes as a function of the map of heat generation and predicted heat generation associated with different workloads, to maintain a target temperature and heat distribution in the data center 100. Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, the orchestrator server 920 may organize received telemetry data into a hierarchical model that is indicative of a relationship between the managed nodes (e.g., a spatial relationship such as the physical locations of the resources of the managed nodes within the data center 100 and/or a functional relationship, such as groupings of the managed nodes by the customers the managed nodes provide services for, the types of functions typically performed by the managed nodes, managed nodes that typically share or exchange workloads among each other, etc.). Based on differences in the physical locations and resources in the managed nodes, a given workload may exhibit different resource utilizations (e.g., cause a different internal temperature, use a different percentage of processor or memory capacity) across the resources of different managed nodes. The orchestrator server 920 may determine the differences based on the telemetry data stored in the hierarchical model and factor the differences into a prediction of future resource utilization of a workload if the workload is reassigned from one managed node to another managed node, to accurately balance resource utilization in the data center 100. In some embodiments, the orchestrator server 920 may identify patterns in resource utilization phases of the workloads and use the patterns to predict future resource utilization of the workloads.

To reduce the computational load on the orchestrator server 920 and the data transfer load on the network, in some embodiments, the orchestrator server 920 may send self-test information to the nodes 400 to enable each node 400 to locally (e.g., on the node 400) determine whether telemetry data generated by the node 400 satisfies one or more conditions (e.g., an available capacity that satisfies a predefined threshold, a temperature that satisfies a predefined threshold, etc.). Each node 400 may then report back a simplified result (e.g., yes or no) to the orchestrator server 920, which the orchestrator server 920 may utilize in determining the allocation of resources to managed nodes.

Embodiments described herein can be used in a data center or disaggregated composite nodes. The techniques described herein can apply to both disaggregated and traditional server architectures. A traditional server can include a CPU, XPU, one or more memory devices, networking communicatively coupled to one or more circuit boards within a server.

Edge Network

Edge computing, at a general level, refers to the implementation, coordination, and use of computing and resources at locations closer to the “edge” or collection of “edges” of the network. The purpose of this arrangement is to improve total cost of ownership, reduce application and network latency, reduce network backhaul traffic and associated energy consumption, improve service capabilities, and improve compliance with security or data privacy requirements (especially as compared to conventional cloud computing). Components that can perform edge computing operations (“edge nodes”) can reside in whatever location needed by the system architecture or ad hoc service (e.g., in a high performance compute data center or cloud installation; a designated edge node server, an enterprise server, a roadside server, a telecom central office; or a local or peer at-the-edge device being served consuming edge services).

With the illustrative edge networking systems described below, computing and storage resources are moved closer to the edge of the network (e.g., closer to the clients, endpoint devices, or “things”). By moving the computing and storage resources closer to the device producing or using the data, various latency, compliance, and/or monetary or resource cost constraints may be achievable relative to a standard networked (e.g., cloud computing) system. To do so, in some examples, pools of compute, memory, and/or storage resources may be located in, or otherwise equipped with, local servers, routers, and/or other network equipment. Such local resources facilitate the satisfying of constraints placed on the system. For example, the local compute and storage resources allow an edge system to perform computations in real-time or near real-time, which may be a consideration in low latency user-cases such as autonomous driving, video surveillance, and mobile media consumption. Additionally, these resources will benefit from service management in an edge system which provides the ability to scale and achieve local service level agreements (SLAs) or service level objectives (SLOs), manage tiered service requirements, and enable local features and functions on a temporary or permanent basis.

A pool can include a device on a same chassis or different physically dispersed devices on different chassis or different racks. A resource pool can include homogeneous processors, homogeneous processors, and/or a memory pool.

An illustrative edge computing system may support and/or provide various services to endpoint devices (e.g., client user equipment (UEs)), each of which may have different requirements or constraints. For example, some services may have priority or quality-of-service (QoS) constraints (e.g., traffic data for autonomous vehicles may have a higher priority than temperature sensor data), reliability and resiliency (e.g., traffic data may require mission-critical reliability, while temperature data may be allowed some error variance), as well as power, cooling, and form-factor constraints. These and other technical constraints may offer significant complexity and technical challenges when applied in the multi-stakeholder setting.

FIG. 10 generically depicts an edge computing system 1000 for providing edge services and applications to multi-stakeholder entities, as distributed among one or more client compute nodes 1002, one or more edge gateway nodes 1012, one or more edge aggregation nodes 1022, one or more core data centers 1032, and a global network cloud 1042, as distributed across layers of the network. The implementation of the edge computing system 1000 may be provided at or on behalf of a telecommunication service provider (“telco”, or “TSP”), internet-of-things service provider, cloud service provider (CSP), enterprise entity, or any other number of entities. Various implementations and configurations of the system 1000 may be provided dynamically, such as when orchestrated to meet service objectives.

For example, the client compute nodes 1002 are located at an endpoint layer, while the edge gateway nodes 1012 are located at an edge devices layer (local level) of the edge computing system 1000. Additionally, the edge aggregation nodes 1022 (and/or fog devices 1024, if arranged or operated with or among a fog networking configuration 1026) are located at a network access layer (an intermediate level). Fog computing (or “fogging”) generally refers to extensions of cloud computing to the edge of an enterprise's network or to the ability to manage transactions across the cloud/edge landscape, typically in a coordinated distributed or multi-node network. Some forms of fog computing provide the deployment of compute, storage, and networking services between end devices and cloud computing data centers, on behalf of the cloud computing locations. Some forms of fog computing also provide the ability to manage the workload/workflow level services, in terms of the overall transaction, by pushing certain workloads to the edge or to the cloud based on the ability to fulfill the overall service level agreement. Fog computing in many scenarios provide a decentralized architecture and serves as an extension to cloud computing by collaborating with one or more edge node devices, providing the subsequent amount of localized control, configuration and management, and much more for end devices. Thus, some forms of fog computing provide operations that are consistent with edge computing as discussed herein; the edge computing aspects discussed herein are also applicable to fog networks, fogging, and fog configurations. Further, aspects of the edge computing systems discussed herein may be configured as a fog, or aspects of a fog may be integrated into an edge computing architecture.

The core data center 1032 is located at a core network layer (a regional or geographically-central level), while the global network cloud 1042 is located at a cloud data center layer (a national or world-wide layer). The use of “core” is provided as a term for a centralized network location—deeper in the network—which is accessible by multiple edge nodes or components; however, a “core” does not necessarily designate the “center” or the deepest location of the network. Accordingly, the core data center 1032 may be located within, at, or near the edge cloud 1000. Although an illustrative number of client compute nodes 1002, edge gateway nodes 1012, edge aggregation nodes 1022, edge core data centers 1032, global network clouds 1042 are shown in FIG. 10, it should be appreciated that the edge computing system 1000 may include additional devices or systems at each layer. Devices at a layer can be configured as peer nodes to each other and, accordingly, act in a collaborative manner to meet service objectives.

Consistent with the examples provided herein, a client compute node 1002 may be embodied as any type of endpoint component, device, appliance, or other thing capable of communicating as a producer or consumer of data. Further, the label “node” or “device” as used in the edge computing system 1000 does not necessarily mean that such node or device operates in a client or agent/minion/follower role; rather, one or more of the nodes or devices in the edge computing system 1000 refer to individual entities, nodes, or subsystems which include discrete or connected hardware or software configurations to facilitate or use the edge cloud 1000.

As such, the edge cloud 1000 is formed from network components and functional features operated by and within the edge gateway nodes 1012 and the edge aggregation nodes 1022. The edge cloud 1000 may be embodied as any type of network that provides edge computing and/or storage resources which are proximately located to radio access network (RAN) capable endpoint devices (e.g., mobile computing devices, IoT devices, smart devices, etc.), which are shown in FIG. 10 as the client compute nodes 1002. In other words, the edge cloud 1000 may be envisioned as an “edge” which connects the endpoint devices and traditional network access points that serves as an ingress point into service provider core networks, including mobile carrier networks (e.g., Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) networks, Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks, 5G/6G networks, etc.), while also providing storage and/or compute capabilities. Other types and forms of network access (e.g., Wi-Fi, long-range wireless, wired networks including optical networks) may also be utilized in place of or in combination with such 3GPP carrier networks.

In some examples, the edge cloud 1000 may form a portion of or otherwise provide an ingress point into or across a fog networking configuration 1026 (e.g., a network of fog devices 1024, not shown in detail), which may be embodied as a system-level horizontal and distributed architecture that distributes resources and services to perform a specific function. For instance, a coordinated and distributed network of fog devices 1024 may perform computing, storage, control, or networking aspects in the context of an IoT system arrangement. Other networked, aggregated, and distributed functions may exist in the edge cloud 1000 between the core data center 1032 and the client endpoints (e.g., client compute nodes 1002). Some of these are discussed in the following sections in the context of network functions or service virtualization, including the use of virtual edges and virtual services which are orchestrated for multiple stakeholders.

As discussed in more detail below, the edge gateway nodes 1012 and the edge aggregation nodes 1022 cooperate to provide various edge services and security to the client compute nodes 1002. Furthermore, because a client compute node 1002 may be stationary or mobile, a respective edge gateway node 1012 may cooperate with other edge gateway devices to propagate presently provided edge services, relevant service data, and security as the corresponding client compute node 1002 moves about a region. To do so, the edge gateway nodes 1012 and/or edge aggregation nodes 1022 may support multiple tenancy and multiple stakeholder configurations, in which services from (or hosted for) multiple service providers, owners, and multiple consumers may be supported and coordinated across a single or multiple compute devices.

A variety of security approaches may be utilized within the architecture of the edge cloud 1000. In a multi-stakeholder environment, there can be multiple loadable security modules (LSMs) used to provision policies that enforce the stakeholder's interests. Enforcement point environments could support multiple LSMs that apply the combination of loaded LSM policies (e.g., where the most constrained effective policy is applied, such as where if one or more of A, B or C stakeholders restricts access then access is restricted). Within the edge cloud 1000, each edge entity can provision LSMs that enforce the Edge entity interests. The Cloud entity can provision LSMs that enforce the cloud entity interests. Likewise, the various Fog and IoT network entities can provision LSMs that enforce the Fog entity's interests.

FIG. 11 shows an example where various client endpoints 1110 (in the form of mobile devices, computers, autonomous vehicles, business computing equipment, industrial processing equipment) provide requests 1120 for services or data transactions, and receive responses 1130 for the services or data transactions, to and from the edge cloud 1100 (e.g., via a wireless or wired network 1140). Within the edge cloud 1000, the CSP may deploy various compute and storage resources, such as edge content nodes 1150 to provide cached content from a distributed content delivery network. Other available compute and storage resources available on the edge content nodes 1150 may be used to execute other services and fulfill other workloads. The edge content nodes 1150 and other systems of the edge cloud 1000 are connected to a cloud or data center 1170, which uses a backhaul network 1160 to fulfill higher-latency requests from a cloud/data center for websites, applications, database servers, etc.

Various embodiments can be used in one or more examples of FIGS. 1-11 to allocate, configure, and/or provide network processing resources from a pool of resources that include a network interface controller (NIC), infrastructure processing unit (IPU), switch, and/or virtual network functions (VNFs).

Network Processing Resource Configuration and Allocation

Various embodiments provide for configuring a pool of networking resources (e.g., virtual ports, match-action rules, etc.) from a switch, server NIC, and VNFs. Open vSwitch (OVS) can be used as a control plane to integrate with cloud orchestration or an SDN controller. In some examples, a data plane can be implemented using requested the pool of networking resources. Various embodiments utilize a physical switch to control the NIC(s) and VNF data plane. Various embodiments can support traditional networking in an AON environment. CSPs may be able to leverage traditional networking (e.g., OVS) for legacy applications and use AON for high-performance applications. Various embodiments can be used in a service mesh that provides communication between microservices and/or an Application Delivery Network (ADN). An ADN can provide a group of services deployed over a network to provide application availability, security, visibility and acceleration from application servers to application end users.

FIG. 12 depicts an example system. For example, various entities executing on switch server 1210 and compute server 1240 can share processor and packet processing resources of respective switch 1220 and NIC 1230. In some examples, switch 1220 includes data processing pipelines 1224 that are configured using P4 or other programming languages (e.g., C, Python, Broadcom Network Programming Language (NPL), or x86 compatible executable binaries or other executable binaries). Data processing pipelines 1224 can be accessible by different entities executing in switch server 1210. In some examples, switch 1220 can configure programmable pipelines 1232 of NIC 1230 to perform operations for various entities executing on compute server 1240.

In some examples, controller 1202 can configure data processing pipelines 1224 of switch 1220 and switch 1220 can configure data processing pipelines 1232 of NIC 1230. For example, controller 1202 can utilize OpenStack cloud management system to manage Open vSwitch (OVS) executing on switch server 1210 to configure data processing pipelines 1224 of switch 1220. Some embodiments of switch server 1210 utilize SDN technology OpenFlow and an open source implementation of OVS. OVS can provide virtual machine-to-virtual machine communications. Other cloud management and orchestration systems can be used such as Kubernetes or VMWare. For examples, Kubernetes containers can utilize OVS to access network devices. Microservice communication (comms) technologies (e.g., Envoy, NGINX, HAProxy, etc.) and block storage technologies (e.g., Ceph) can also utilize OVS to access network and packet processing resources.

An entity (e.g., virtual machine, container, application, or device) can utilize packet processing resources in data processing pipeline 1224. As shown in various examples, resources of a switch, NIC, and/or VNF can be made available to various entities. In some examples, applications in data centers can include at least one or more of: traditional networking, block storage, microservice networking, object storage and artificial intelligence (AI).

Various embodiments provide for different applications executing in switch server 1210 and sharing resources such as processors 1216, switch 1220, processors 1242, and NIC 1230. For example, monitoring and diagnostic traffic may use network switch. Microservice traffic may traverse a private or proprietary microservice networking protocol stack. For example, microservice communications and block storage interfaces may utilize AON by sharing resources of switch 1220 and NIC 1230 via OVS.

Network resource manager 1214 can configure data processing pipeline 1224 to perform various operations. For example, to perform network switch operations, data processing pipeline 1224 can perform access control list (ACL), firewall, forwarding, routing, Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) termination and so forth. For example, to perform microservice communications, data processing pipeline 1224 can perform microservice switch operations such as microservice traffic policy to route traffic to a correct destination using a low latency path and load balancing. For example, to perform block storage communications, data processing pipeline 1224 can perform block storage operations such as storage packet forwarding and distributed storage path selection.

Various embodiments provide a control plane whereby switch 1220 can configure data processing pipelines 1232 of NIC using a configuration protocol 1225 to extend management of network processing from switch 1220 to computer server 1240 and NIC 1230.

In some examples, an In-band P4 Device Configuration (IPDC) protocol can be used as configuration protocol 1225 by switch 1220 to instruct NIC 1230 to load a P4 program and/or add an entry to a match-action table. In some examples, IPDC could provide vendor specific or deploy specific channel defined as, e.g., VLAN or in-packet channel in In-band Network Telemetry (INT). Various examples of in-network telemetry are described in: Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) draft-kumar-ippm-ifa-01, “Inband Flow Analyzer” (February 2019); “In-band Network Telemetry (INT) Dataplane Specification, v2.0,” P4.org Applications Working Group (February 2020); IETF draft-lapukhov-dataplane-probe-01, “Data-plane probe for in-band telemetry collection” (2016); and IETF draft-ietf-ippm-ioam-data-09, “In-situ Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (IOAM)” (Mar. 8, 2020). In-situ Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (IOAM) records operational and telemetry information in the packet while the packet traverses a path between two points in the network. IOAM discusses the data fields and associated data types for in-situ OAM. In-situ OAM data fields can be encapsulated into a variety of protocols such as NSH, Segment Routing, Generic Network Virtualization Encapsulation (GENEVE), IPv6 (via extension header), or IPv4.

In some examples, IPDC could provide vendor specific commands encapsulation method, e.g., gRPC, to encapsulate commands of capability negotiation, load P4 program, get/set parameter and retrieve, add, or delete a table entry. In some examples, IPDC could provide capability negotiation such as components negotiating capabilities, e.g., load-able P4 programs or fixed P4 programs, parameter get/set, table entry etc. P4 programs can be compiled by a vendor specific a compiler (not shown), which generates P4 binary for P4 Switch, P4 NIC and P4 VNF separately. In some examples, IPDC could cause switch 1210 to send a compiled P4 program to be loaded by NIC 1230. In some examples, IPDC could provide set parameter and if the parameter is supported by NIC 1230, vendor specific parameters could be set remotely. In some examples, IPDC could retrieve, add, or delete table entry and if the entry is supported, table entry could be retrieved, added, or deleted remotely. For example, user-defined configurations could be encapsulated inside packets or in extra VLAN tags, or other vendor specific manner.

Interfaces in compute server 1240 can provide an I/O interface for receiving and sending network packets by a VM, container, or applications such as but not limited to virtual function (VF) device interface using Single Root I/O Virtualization and Sharing specification Revision 1.1 (2010) and variations thereof, earlier versions or updates thereto; Assignable Device interface (ADI) virtual device using Intel® Scalable I/O Virtualization Technical Specification (June 2018) and variations thereof, earlier versions or updates thereto; or Linux Kernel socket interface such as AF_XDP. Various examples of kernel drivers and hypervisors (e.g., Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)) can be used in conjunction with switch 1220.

FIGS. 13-15 depict example configurations of the system of FIG. 12. Hardware and software components of FIG. 12 can be used in one or more of the configurations of FIGS. 13-15. FIG. 13 depicts an example configuration whereby switch 1320 can be programmed by controller 1300. For example, controller 1300 can execute a Virtual Switch Agent (e.g., Open vSwitch, Nginx, and so forth) or orchestration application (e.g., OpenStack, VMware vCloud, Kubernetes, and so forth). For example, controller 1300 can configure resource manager 1310 to configure programmable packet processing pipeline 1322 of switch 1320. In some examples, switch 1320 can be accessed via switch server 1302 using OVS networking management interface for cloud orchestration, e.g., Networking-OVS Neutron plugin for OpenStack.

In some examples, switch server 1302 can communicate with switch 1320 using a hardware interface, e.g., Intel® Ethernet Adaptive Virtual Function (AVF) Specification, non-volatile memory express (NVMe), or using a single root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) virtual function (VF) or Intel® Scalable I/O Virtualization (SIOV) Assignable Device interface (ADI). SR-IOV is compatible at least with specifications available from Peripheral Component Interconnect Special Interest Group (PCI SIG) including specifications such as Single Root I/O Virtualization and Sharing specification Revision 1.1 (2010) and variations thereof, earlier versions or updates thereto.

In some examples, switch 1320 can include programmable packet pipeline 1322 and one or more processors. Examples of a programmable packet processing pipeline 1322 are provided herein. In some examples, programmable packet processing pipeline 1322 can be programmed using P4 and can leverage fabric.p4 of the Trellis project.

Switch 1320 can communicate with NIC 1360 and other network devices. In some examples, compute server 1350 can communicate with NIC 1360 using a hardware interface, e.g., Intel® Ethernet AVF, NVMe, or using a SR-IOV VF or SIOV ADI.

FIG. 14 depicts a configuration whereby a NIC with a programmable pipeline that can be configured by a switch. In some examples, controller 1400 and/or resource manager 1410 can configure programmable pipeline 1422 of switch 1420 and programmable pipeline 1422 of switch 1420 is to also configure match-action tables of programmable pipeline 1462 of NIC 1460. Although a single NIC is shown, switch 1420 can configure multiple NICs or IPUs.

For example, controller 1400 can execute a Virtual Switch Agent (e.g., Open vSwitch, Nginx, and so forth) or orchestration application (e.g., OpenStack, VMware vCloud, Kubernetes, and so forth) that could dynamically move certain rules from NIC 1460 to switch 1420 or from switch 1420 to NIC 1460. For example, performance of traffic rules for a group of one or more VMs could be performed by compute server 1450, performance of traffic rules for a different group of one or more VMs could be performed by NIC 1460, and performance of traffic rules for yet another group of one or more VMs could be performed by switch 1420.

FIG. 15 depicts an example system whereby a controller executed by a switch configures the switch, NICs, and VNFs. Controller 1500 executing a virtual switch agent (e.g., OVS) and/or resource manager 1510 can configure programmable pipeline 1522 of switch 1520, programmable pipeline 1562 of NIC 1560, and/or VNFs running on switch server 1502 and/or compute server 1550 to perform packet processing operations. A VNF can run in a VM or container (or other virtualized environment) to implement packet processing operations such as match-action operations. A VNF can include a service chain or sequence of virtualized tasks executed on generic configurable hardware such as firewalls, domain name system (DNS), caching or network address translation (NAT) and can run in virtual environments (e.g., virtual machines or containers). VNFs can be linked together as a service chain.

For example, controller 1500 executing a virtual switch agent (e.g., OVS) and/or resource manager 1510 can determine which of switch 1520, NIC 1560, and VNFs running on switch server 1502 and/or compute server 1550 is to perform packet processing operations for particular applications and can move match-action operations among the switch 1520, NIC 1560, and VNFs running on switch server 1502 and/or compute server 1550 to allocate packet processing work among devices and VNFs. For example, rules that apply to packets traversing a switch can be performed by pipeline 1522 on switch 1520 whereas local rule that apply to packets received by NIC 1560 could be performed by pipeline 1562 of NIC 1560. For cases where there are limited resources in switch 1520 and NIC 1560, a VNF or CPU in compute server 1550 or switch server 1502 can be used to perform match-action operations.

In some examples, switch 1520 can define an exception path so that a packet is processed using a match-action table accessible to a VNF. After processing the packet using the match-action table accessible to the VNF, one or more match-action rules can be copied to switch 1520, using configuration 1540, for performance at switch 1520.

For example, programmable pipeline 1522 of switch 1520 may support hundreds of thousands of match-action rules but support for more rules are needed. Use of packet processing pipeline of NIC 1560 and/or one or more VNFs can extend a number of match-action rules available for packet processing. A VNF can be performed on pipeline 1562 of NIC 1560 or pipeline 1522 of switch 1520 using an administration channel and data channels. The administration channel can include configuration 1540. A data channel can be used to process network packets forwarded by switch tables and meta-data could be encapsulated in a descriptor in those data channel using, e.g., Intel AVF) or NVMe.

FIG. 16 depicts an example process. At 1602, one or more packet processing pipelines in one or more network devices and/or one or more processor executed VNFs can be identified to be configured. For example, a network device can include a switch, NIC, IPU, or other device. At 1604, based on a first network device including the sole packet processing pipeline that is to be configured, the packet processing pipeline of the first network device is configured. For example, configuring the packet processing pipeline of the first network device can include configuring the packet processing pipeline of the first network device to perform network switch operations such as access control list (ACL) for packets, firewall, forwarding, routing, Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) or GENEVE termination and so forth. For example, configuring the packet processing pipeline of the first network device can include configuring the packet processing pipeline of the first network device to perform microservice communications such as microservice packet policy and load balancing. For example, configuring the packet processing pipeline of the first network device can include configuring the packet processing pipeline of the first network device to perform block switch operations such as storage packet forwarding and distributed storage path selection.

At 1606, based on the first network device being configured to program a packet processing pipeline of a second network device, the first network device can engage in programming the packet processing pipeline of the second network device. For example, a protocol can be used by the first network device to perform capability negotiation with the second network device and/or provide P4 programs for execution, parameter get, parameter set, table entry additions, etc. In some examples, the first network device can configure multiple other network devices.

At 1608, based on the first network device being configured to program a packet processing operations of one or more VNFs, the first network device can engage in programming the packet processing operations of one or more VNFs. The one or more VNFs can be executed on a server coupled using an interface such as PCIe or CXL to the switch or a server coupled to a NIC using an interface such as PCIe or CXL.

FIG. 17 depicts a network interface that can use embodiments or be used by embodiments. Various resources in the network interface (e.g., FPGAs and/or processors 1704) can be configured to perform packet processing in accordance with embodiments described herein. In some examples, network interface 1700 can be implemented as a network interface controller, network interface card, a host fabric interface (HFI), or host bus adapter (HBA), and such examples can be interchangeable. Network interface 1700 can be coupled to one or more servers using a bus, PCIe, CXL, or DDR. Network interface 1700 may be embodied as part of a system-on-a-chip (SoC) that includes one or more processors, or included on a multichip package that also contains one or more processors.

Some examples of network device 1700 are part of an Infrastructure Processing Unit (IPU) or data processing unit (DPU) or utilized by an IPU or DPU. An xPU can refer at least to an IPU, DPU, GPU, GPGPU, or other processing units (e.g., accelerator devices). An IPU or DPU can include a network interface with one or more programmable or fixed function processors to perform offload of operations that could have been performed by a CPU. The IPU or DPU can include one or more memory devices. In some examples, the IPU or DPU can perform virtual switch operations, manage storage transactions (e.g., compression, cryptography, virtualization), and manage operations performed on other IPUs, DPUs, servers, or devices.

Network interface 1700 can include transceiver 1702, processors 1704, transmit queue 1706, receive queue 1708, memory 1710, and bus interface 1712, and DMA engine 1752. Transceiver 1702 can be capable of receiving and transmitting packets in conformance with the applicable protocols such as Ethernet as described in IEEE 802.3, although other protocols may be used. Transceiver 1702 can receive and transmit packets from and to a network via a network medium (not depicted). Transceiver 1702 can include PHY circuitry 1714 and media access control (MAC) circuitry 1716. PHY circuitry 1714 can include encoding and decoding circuitry (not shown) to encode and decode data packets according to applicable physical layer specifications or standards. MAC circuitry 1716 can be configured to perform MAC address filtering on received packets, process MAC headers of received packets by verifying data integrity, remove preambles and padding, and provide packet content for processing by higher layers. MAC circuitry 1716 can be configured to assemble data to be transmitted into packets, that include destination and source addresses along with network control information and error detection hash values.

Processors 1704 can be any a combination of a: processor, core, graphics processing unit (GPU), field programmable gate array (FPGA), application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or other programmable hardware device that allow programming of network interface 1700. For example, processors 1704 can provide for identification of a resource to use to perform a workload and generation of a bitstream for execution on the selected resource. For example, a “smart network interface” can provide packet processing capabilities in the network interface using processors 1704.

Packet allocator 1724 can provide distribution of received packets for processing by multiple CPUs or cores using timeslot allocation described herein or RSS. When packet allocator 1724 uses RSS, packet allocator 1724 can calculate a hash or make another determination based on contents of a received packet to determine which CPU or core is to process a packet.

Interrupt coalesce 1722 can perform interrupt moderation whereby network interface interrupt coalesce 1722 waits for multiple packets to arrive, or for a time-out to expire, before generating an interrupt to host system to process received packet(s). Receive Segment Coalescing (RSC) can be performed by network interface 1700 whereby portions of incoming packets are combined into segments of a packet. Network interface 1700 provides this coalesced packet to an application.

Direct memory access (DMA) engine 1752 can copy a packet header, packet payload, and/or descriptor directly from host memory to the network interface or vice versa, instead of copying the packet to an intermediate buffer at the host and then using another copy operation from the intermediate buffer to the destination buffer.

Memory 1710 can be any type of volatile or non-volatile memory device and can store any queue or instructions used to program network interface 1700. Transmit queue 1706 can include data or references to data for transmission by network interface. Receive queue 1708 can include data or references to data that was received by network interface from a network. Descriptor queues 1720 can include descriptors that reference data or packets in transmit queue 1706 or receive queue 1708. Bus interface 1712 can provide an interface with host device (not depicted). For example, bus interface 1712 can be compatible with PCI, PCI Express, PCI-x, Serial ATA, and/or USB compatible interface (although other interconnection standards may be used).

FIG. 18 depicts an example switch. Various resources in the switch (e.g., packet processing pipelines 1812, processors 1816, and/or FPGAs 1818) can be configured to perform packet processing and to configure a VNF or packet processing pipeline in another network device in accordance with embodiments described herein. Switch 1804 can route packets or frames of any format or in accordance with any specification from any port 1802-0 to 1802-X to any of ports 1806-0 to 1806-Y (or vice versa). Any of ports 1802-0 to 1802-X can be connected to a network of one or more interconnected devices. Similarly, any of ports 1806-0 to 1806-X can be connected to a network of one or more interconnected devices.

In some examples, switch fabric 1810 can provide routing of packets from one or more ingress ports for processing prior to egress from switch 1804. Switch fabric 180 can be implemented as one or more multi-hop topologies, where example topologies include torus, butterflies, buffered multi-stage, etc., or shared memory switch fabric (SMSF), among other implementations. SMSF can be any switch fabric connected to ingress ports and all egress ports in the switch, where ingress subsystems write (store) packet segments into the fabric's memory, while the egress subsystems read (fetch) packet segments from the fabric's memory.

Memory 1808 can be configured to store packets received at ports prior to egress from one or more ports. Packet processing pipelines 1812 can determine which port to transfer packets or frames to using a table that maps packet characteristics with an associated output port. Packet processing pipelines 1812 can be configured to perform match-action on received packets to identify packet processing rules and next hops using information stored in a ternary content-addressable memory (TCAM) tables or exact match tables in some embodiments. For example, match-action tables or circuitry can be used whereby a hash of a portion of a packet is used as an index to find an entry. Packet processing pipelines 1812 can implement access control list (ACL) or packet drops due to queue overflow. Packet processing pipelines 1812 can be configured to add operation and telemetry data concerning switch 1804 to a packet prior to its egress.

Configuration of operation of packet processing pipelines 1812, including its data plane, can be programmed using P4, C, Python, Broadcom Network Programming Language (NPL), or x86 compatible executable binaries or other executable binaries. Processors 1816 and FPGAs 1818 can be utilized for packet processing.

FIG. 19 depicts an example packet processing pipeline that can be used in a switch or network device. Configuration of the packet processing pipeline can take place in accordance with embodiments described herein to configure packet processing operations and allocate packet processing resources for use by one or more applications. For example, FIG. 19 illustrates several ingress pipelines 1920, a traffic management unit (referred to as a traffic manager) 1950, and several egress pipelines 1930. Though shown as separate structures, in some embodiments the ingress pipelines 1920 and the egress pipelines 1930 can use the same circuitry resources. In some embodiments, the pipeline circuitry is configured to process ingress and/or egress pipeline packets synchronously, as well as non-packet data. That is, a particular stage of the pipeline may process any combination of an ingress packet, an egress packet, and non-packet data in the same clock cycle. However, in other embodiments, the ingress and egress pipelines are separate circuitry. In some of these other embodiments, the ingress pipelines also process the non-packet data.

In some examples, in response to receiving a packet, the packet is directed to one of the ingress pipelines 1920 where an ingress pipeline which may correspond to one or more ports of a hardware forwarding element. After passing through the selected ingress pipeline 1920, the packet is sent to the traffic manager 1950, where the packet is enqueued and placed in the output buffer 1954. In some embodiments, the ingress pipeline 1920 that processes the packet specifies into which queue the packet is to be placed by the traffic manager 1950 (e.g., based on the destination of the packet or a flow identifier of the packet). The traffic manager 1950 then dispatches the packet to the appropriate egress pipeline 1930 where an egress pipeline may correspond to one or more ports of the forwarding element. In some embodiments, there is no necessary correlation between which of the ingress pipelines 1920 processes a packet and to which of the egress pipelines 1930 the traffic manager 1950 dispatches the packet. That is, a packet might be initially processed by ingress pipeline 1920 b after receipt through a first port, and then subsequently by egress pipeline 1930 a to be sent out a second port, etc.

A least one ingress pipeline 1920 includes a parser 1922, a match-action unit (MAU) 1924, and a deparser 1926. Similarly, egress pipeline 1930 can include a parser 1932, a MAU 1934, and a deparser 1936. The parser 1922 or 1932, in some embodiments, receives a packet as a formatted collection of bits in a particular order, and parses the packet into its constituent header fields. In some examples, the parser starts from the beginning of the packet and assigns header fields to fields (e.g., data containers) for processing. In some embodiments, the parser 1922 or 1932 separates out the packet headers (up to a designated point) from the payload of the packet, and sends the payload (or the entire packet, including the headers and payload) directly to the deparser without passing through the MAU processing.

The MAU 1924 or 1934 can perform processing on the packet data. In some embodiments, the MAU includes a sequence of stages, with each stage including one or more match tables and an action engine. A match table can include a set of match entries against which the packet header fields are matched (e.g., using hash tables), with the match entries referencing action entries. When the packet matches a particular match entry, that particular match entry references a particular action entry which specifies a set of actions to perform on the packet (e.g., sending the packet to a particular port, modifying one or more packet header field values, dropping the packet, mirroring the packet to a mirror buffer, etc.). The action engine of the stage can perform the actions on the packet, which is then sent to the next stage of the MAU. For example, using MAU, telemetry data for the forwarding element can be gathered and sent to another network device, switch, router, or endpoint receiver or transmitter in one or more packets.

The deparser 1926 or 1936 can reconstruct the packet using a packet header vector (PHV) as modified by the MAU 1924 or 1934 and the payload received directly from the parser 1922 or 1932. The deparser can construct a packet that can be sent out over the physical network, or to the traffic manager 1950. In some embodiments, the deparser can construct this packet based on data received along with the PHV that specifies the protocols to include in the packet header, as well as its own stored list of data container locations for each possible protocol's header fields.

Traffic manager 1950 can include a packet replicator 1952 and output buffer 1954. In some embodiments, the traffic manager 1950 may include other components, such as a feedback generator for sending signals regarding output port failures, a series of queues and schedulers for these queues, queue state analysis components, as well as additional components. The packet replicator 1952 of some embodiments performs replication for broadcast/multicast packets, generating multiple packets to be added to the output buffer (e.g., to be distributed to different egress pipelines).

The output buffer 1954 can be part of a queuing and buffering system of the traffic manager in some embodiments. The traffic manager 1950 can provide a shared buffer that accommodates any queuing delays in the egress pipelines. In some embodiments, this shared output buffer 1954 can store packet data, while references (e.g., pointers) to that packet data are kept in different queues for each egress pipeline 1930. The egress pipelines can request their respective data from the common data buffer using a queuing policy that is control-plane configurable. When a packet data reference reaches the head of its queue and is scheduled for dequeuing, the corresponding packet data can be read out of the output buffer 1954 and into the corresponding egress pipeline 1930. In some embodiments, packet data may be referenced by multiple pipelines (e.g., for a multicast packet). In this case, the packet data is not removed from this output buffer 1954 until all references to the packet data have cleared their respective queues.

FIG. 20 depicts an example computing system. Various embodiments of system 2000 can be included in a network device, a compute server, and/or switch server for allocating packet processing resources in accordance with embodiments described herein. System 2000 includes processor 2010, which provides processing, operation management, and execution of instructions for system 2000. Processor 2010 can include any type of microprocessor, central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), processing core, or other processing hardware to provide processing for system 2000, or a combination of processors. Processor 2010 controls the overall operation of system 2000, and can be or include, one or more programmable general-purpose or special-purpose microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), programmable controllers, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), or the like, or a combination of such devices.

In one example, system 2000 includes interface 2012 coupled to processor 2010, which can represent a higher speed interface or a high throughput interface for system components that needs higher bandwidth connections, such as memory subsystem 2020 or graphics interface components 2040, or accelerators 2042. Interface 2012 represents an interface circuit, which can be a standalone component or integrated onto a processor die. Where present, graphics interface 2040 interfaces to graphics components for providing a visual display to a user of system 2000. In one example, graphics interface 2040 can drive a high definition (HD) display that provides an output to a user. High definition can refer to a display having a pixel density of approximately 100 PPI (pixels per inch) or greater and can include formats such as full HD (e.g., 1080p), retina displays, 4K (ultra-high definition or UHD), or others. In one example, the display can include a touchscreen display. In one example, graphics interface 2040 generates a display based on data stored in memory 2030 or based on operations executed by processor 2010 or both. In one example, graphics interface 2040 generates a display based on data stored in memory 2030 or based on operations executed by processor 2010 or both.

Accelerators 2042 can be a fixed function or programmable offload engine that can be accessed or used by a processor 2010. For example, an accelerator among accelerators 2042 can provide compression (DC) capability, cryptography services such as public key encryption (PKE), cipher, hash/authentication capabilities, decryption, or other capabilities or services. In some embodiments, in addition or alternatively, an accelerator among accelerators 2042 provides field select controller capabilities as described herein. In some cases, accelerators 2042 can be integrated into a CPU socket (e.g., a connector to a motherboard or circuit board that includes a CPU and provides an electrical interface with the CPU). For example, accelerators 2042 can include a single or multi-core processor, graphics processing unit, logical execution unit single or multi-level cache, functional units usable to independently execute programs or threads, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), neural network processors (NNPs), programmable control logic, and programmable processing elements such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or programmable logic devices (PLDs). Accelerators 2042 can provide multiple neural networks, CPUs, processor cores, general purpose graphics processing units, or graphics processing units can be made available for use by artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) models. For example, the AI model can use or include one or more of: a reinforcement learning scheme, Q-learning scheme, deep-Q learning, or Asynchronous Advantage Actor-Critic (A3C), combinatorial neural network, recurrent combinatorial neural network, or other AI or ML model. Multiple neural networks, processor cores, or graphics processing units can be made available for use by AI or ML models.

Various embodiments of processor 2010 and/or accelerators 2042 can perform packet processing operations that are allocatable to one or more applications in accordance with embodiments described herein.

Memory subsystem 2020 represents the main memory of system 2000 and provides storage for code to be executed by processor 2010, or data values to be used in executing a routine. Memory subsystem 2020 can include one or more memory devices 2030 such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, one or more varieties of random access memory (RAM) such as DRAM, or other memory devices, or a combination of such devices. Memory 2030 stores and hosts, among other things, operating system (OS) 2032 to provide a software platform for execution of instructions in system 2000. Additionally, applications 2034 can execute on the software platform of OS 2032 from memory 2030. Applications 2034 represent programs that have their own operational logic to perform execution of one or more functions. Processes 2036 represent agents or routines that provide auxiliary functions to OS 2032 or one or more applications 2034 or a combination. OS 2032, applications 2034, and processes 2036 provide software logic to provide functions for system 2000. In one example, memory subsystem 2020 includes memory controller 2022, which is a memory controller to generate and issue commands to memory 2030. It will be understood that memory controller 2022 could be a physical part of processor 2010 or a physical part of interface 2012. For example, memory controller 2022 can be an integrated memory controller, integrated onto a circuit with processor 2010.

In some examples, OS 2032 can be Linux®, Windows® Server or personal computer, FreeBSD®, Android®, MacOS®, iOS®, VMware vSphere, openSUSE, RHEL, CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu, or any other operating system. The OS and driver can execute on a CPU sold or designed by Intel®, ARM®, AMD®, Qualcomm®, IBM®, Texas Instruments®, among others.

While not specifically illustrated, it will be understood that system 2000 can include one or more buses or bus systems between devices, such as a memory bus, a graphics bus, interface buses, or others. Buses or other signal lines can communicatively or electrically couple components together, or both communicatively and electrically couple the components. Buses can include physical communication lines, point-to-point connections, bridges, adapters, controllers, or other circuitry or a combination. Buses can include, for example, one or more of a system bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, a Hyper Transport or industry standard architecture (ISA) bus, a small computer system interface (SCSI) bus, a universal serial bus (USB), or an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard 1394 bus (Firewire).

In one example, system 2000 includes interface 2014, which can be coupled to interface 2012. In one example, interface 2014 represents an interface circuit, which can include standalone components and integrated circuitry. In one example, multiple user interface components or peripheral components, or both, couple to interface 2014. Network interface 2050 provides system 2000 the ability to communicate with remote devices (e.g., servers or other computing devices) over one or more networks. Network interface 2050 can include an Ethernet adapter, wireless interconnection components, cellular network interconnection components, USB (universal serial bus), or other wired or wireless standards-based or proprietary interfaces. Network interface 2050 can transmit data to a device that is in the same data center or rack or a remote device, which can include sending data stored in memory. Network interface 2050 can receive data from a remote device, which can include storing received data into memory. Various embodiments can be used in connection with network interface 2050 to allocate packet processing resources to one or more applications.

In one example, system 2000 includes one or more input/output (I/O) interface(s) 2060. I/O interface 2060 can include one or more interface components through which a user interacts with system 2000 (e.g., audio, alphanumeric, tactile/touch, or other interfacing). Peripheral interface 2070 can include any hardware interface not specifically mentioned above. Peripherals refer generally to devices that connect dependently to system 2000. A dependent connection is one where system 2000 provides the software platform or hardware platform or both on which operation executes, and with which a user interacts.

In one example, system 2000 includes storage subsystem 2080 to store data in a nonvolatile manner. In one example, in certain system implementations, at least certain components of storage 2080 can overlap with components of memory subsystem 2020. Storage subsystem 2080 includes storage device(s) 2084, which can be or include any conventional medium for storing large amounts of data in a nonvolatile manner, such as one or more magnetic, solid state, or optical based disks, or a combination. Storage 2084 holds code or instructions and data 2086 in a persistent state (e.g., the value is retained despite interruption of power to system 2000). Storage 2084 can be generically considered to be a “memory,” although memory 2030 is typically the executing or operating memory to provide instructions to processor 2010. Whereas storage 2084 is nonvolatile, memory 2030 can include volatile memory (e.g., the value or state of the data is indeterminate if power is interrupted to system 2000). In one example, storage subsystem 2080 includes controller 2082 to interface with storage 2084. In one example controller 2082 is a physical part of interface 2014 or processor 2010 or can include circuits or logic in both processor 2010 and interface 2014.

A volatile memory is memory whose state (and therefore the data stored in it) is indeterminate if power is interrupted to the device. Dynamic volatile memory uses refreshing the data stored in the device to maintain state. One example of dynamic volatile memory incudes DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), or some variant such as Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM). An example of a volatile memory include a cache. A memory subsystem as described herein may be compatible with a number of memory technologies, such as DDR3 (Double Data Rate version 3, original release by JEDEC (Joint Electronic Device Engineering Council) on Jun. 16, 2007). DDR4 (DDR version 4, initial specification published in September 2012 by JEDEC), DDR4E (DDR version 4), LPDDR3 (Low Power DDR version3, JESD209-3B, August 2013 by JEDEC), LPDDR4) LPDDR version 4, JESD209-4, originally published by JEDEC in August 2014), WIO2 (Wide Input/output version 2, JESD229-2 originally published by JEDEC in August 2014, HBM (High Bandwidth Memory, JESD325, originally published by JEDEC in October 2013, LPDDR5 (currently in discussion by JEDEC), HBM2 (HBM version 2), currently in discussion by JEDEC, or others or combinations of memory technologies, and technologies based on derivatives or extensions of such specifications.

A non-volatile memory (NVM) device is a memory whose state is determinate even if power is interrupted to the device. In one embodiment, the NVM device can comprise a block addressable memory device, such as NAND technologies, or more specifically, multi-threshold level NAND flash memory (for example, Single-Level Cell (“SLC”), Multi-Level Cell (“MLC”), Quad-Level Cell (“QLC”), Tri-Level Cell (“TLC”), or some other NAND). A NVM device can also comprise a byte-addressable write-in-place three dimensional cross point memory device, or other byte addressable write-in-place NVM device (also referred to as persistent memory), such as single or multi-level Phase Change Memory (PCM) or phase change memory with a switch (PCMS), Intel® Optane™ memory, NVM devices that use chalcogenide phase change material (for example, chalcogenide glass), resistive memory including metal oxide base, oxygen vacancy base and Conductive Bridge Random Access Memory (CB-RAM), nanowire memory, ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM, FRAM), magneto resistive random access memory (MRAM) that incorporates memristor technology, spin transfer torque (STT)-MRAM, a spintronic magnetic junction memory based device, a magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) based device, a DW (Domain Wall) and SOT (Spin Orbit Transfer) based device, a thyristor based memory device, or a combination of one or more of the above, or other memory.

A power source (not depicted) provides power to the components of system 2000. More specifically, power source typically interfaces to one or multiple power supplies in system 2000 to provide power to the components of system 2000. In one example, the power supply includes an AC to DC (alternating current to direct current) adapter to plug into a wall outlet. Such AC power can be renewable energy (e.g., solar power) power source. In one example, power source includes a DC power source, such as an external AC to DC converter. In one example, power source or power supply includes wireless charging hardware to charge via proximity to a charging field. In one example, power source can include an internal battery, alternating current supply, motion-based power supply, solar power supply, or fuel cell source.

In an example, system 2000 can be implemented using interconnected compute sleds of processors, memories, storages, network interfaces, and other components. High speed interconnects can be used such as: Ethernet (IEEE 802.3), remote direct memory access (RDMA), InfiniBand, Internet Wide Area RDMA Protocol (iWARP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC), RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE), Peripheral Component Interconnect express (PCIe), Intel QuickPath Interconnect (QPI), Intel Ultra Path Interconnect (UPI), Intel On-Chip System Fabric (IOSF), Omni-Path, Compute Express Link (CXL), HyperTransport, high-speed fabric, NVLink, Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture (AMBA) interconnect, OpenCAPI, Gen-Z, Infinity Fabric (IF), Cache Coherent Interconnect for Accelerators (COX), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) (4G), 3GPP 5G, and variations thereof. Data can be copied or stored to virtualized storage nodes or accessed using a protocol such as NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF) or NVMe.

Embodiments herein may be implemented in various types of computing and networking equipment, such as switches, routers, racks, and blade servers such as those employed in a data center and/or server farm environment. The servers used in data centers and server farms comprise arrayed server configurations such as rack-based servers or blade servers. These servers are interconnected in communication via various network provisions, such as partitioning sets of servers into Local Area Networks (LANs) with appropriate switching and routing facilities between the LANs to form a private Intranet. For example, cloud hosting facilities may typically employ large data centers with a multitude of servers. A blade comprises a separate computing platform that is configured to perform server-type functions, that is, a “server on a card.” Accordingly, a blade can include components common to conventional servers, including a main printed circuit board (main board) providing internal wiring (e.g., buses) for coupling appropriate integrated circuits (ICs) and other components mounted to the board.

In some examples, network interface and other embodiments described herein can be used in connection with a base station (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G and so forth), macro base station (e.g., 5G networks), picostation (e.g., an IEEE 802.11 compatible access point), nanostation (e.g., for Point-to-MultiPoint (PtMP) applications), on-premises data centers, off-premises data centers, edge network elements, edge servers, edge switches, fog network elements, and/or hybrid data centers (e.g., data center that use virtualization, cloud and software-defined networking to deliver application workloads across physical data centers and distributed multi-cloud environments).

Various examples may be implemented using hardware elements, software elements, or a combination of both. In some examples, hardware elements may include devices, components, processors, microprocessors, circuits, circuit elements (e.g., transistors, resistors, capacitors, inductors, and so forth), integrated circuits, ASICs, PLDs, DSPs, FPGAs, memory units, logic gates, registers, semiconductor device, chips, microchips, chip sets, and so forth. In some examples, software elements may include software components, programs, applications, computer programs, application programs, system programs, machine programs, operating system software, middleware, firmware, software modules, routines, subroutines, functions, methods, procedures, software interfaces, APIs, instruction sets, computing code, computer code, code segments, computer code segments, words, values, symbols, or combination thereof. Determining whether an example is implemented using hardware elements and/or software elements may vary in accordance with any number of factors, such as desired computational rate, power levels, heat tolerances, processing cycle budget, input data rates, output data rates, memory resources, data bus speeds and other design or performance constraints, as desired for a given implementation. A processor can be one or more combination of a hardware state machine, digital control logic, central processing unit, or any hardware, firmware and/or software elements.

Some examples may be implemented using or as an article of manufacture or at least one computer-readable medium. A computer-readable medium may include a non-transitory storage medium to store logic. In some examples, the non-transitory storage medium may include one or more types of computer-readable storage media capable of storing electronic data, including volatile memory or non-volatile memory, removable or non-removable memory, erasable or non-erasable memory, writeable or re-writeable memory, and so forth. In some examples, the logic may include various software elements, such as software components, programs, applications, computer programs, application programs, system programs, machine programs, operating system software, middleware, firmware, software modules, routines, subroutines, functions, methods, procedures, software interfaces, API, instruction sets, computing code, computer code, code segments, computer code segments, words, values, symbols, or combination thereof.

According to some examples, a computer-readable medium may include a non-transitory storage medium to store or maintain instructions that when executed by a machine, computing device or system, cause the machine, computing device or system to perform methods and/or operations in accordance with the described examples. The instructions may include any suitable type of code, such as source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, and the like. The instructions may be implemented according to a predefined computer language, manner or syntax, for instructing a machine, computing device or system to perform a certain function. The instructions may be implemented using any suitable high-level, low-level, object-oriented, visual, compiled and/or interpreted programming language.

One or more aspects of at least one example may be implemented by representative instructions stored on at least one machine-readable medium which represents various logic within the processor, which when read by a machine, computing device or system causes the machine, computing device or system to fabricate logic to perform the techniques described herein. Such representations, known as “IP cores” may be stored on a tangible, machine readable medium and supplied to various customers or manufacturing facilities to load into the fabrication machines that actually make the logic or processor.

The appearances of the phrase “one example” or “an example” are not necessarily all referring to the same example or embodiment. Any aspect described herein can be combined with any other aspect or similar aspect described herein, regardless of whether the aspects are described with respect to the same figure or element. Division, omission or inclusion of block functions depicted in the accompanying figures does not infer that the hardware components, circuits, software and/or elements for implementing these functions would necessarily be divided, omitted, or included in embodiments.

Some examples may be described using the expression “coupled” and “connected” along with their derivatives. These terms are not necessarily intended as synonyms for each other. For example, descriptions using the terms “connected” and/or “coupled” may indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. The term “coupled,” however, may also mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but yet still co-operate or interact with each other.

The terms “first,” “second,” and the like, herein do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another. The terms “a” and “an” herein do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced items. The term “asserted” used herein with reference to a signal denote a state of the signal, in which the signal is active, and which can be achieved by applying any logic level either logic 0 or logic 1 to the signal. The terms “follow” or “after” can refer to immediately following or following after some other event or events. Other sequences of operations may also be performed according to alternative embodiments. Furthermore, additional operations may be added or removed depending on the particular applications. Any combination of changes can be used and one of ordinary skill in the art with the benefit of this disclosure would understand the many variations, modifications, and alternative embodiments thereof.

Disjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, or Z,” unless specifically stated otherwise, is otherwise understood within the context as used in general to present that an item, term, etc., may be either X, Y, or Z, or combination thereof (e.g., X, Y, and/or Z). Thus, such disjunctive language is not generally intended to, and should not, imply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, at least one of Y, or at least one of Z to each be present. Additionally, conjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, and Z,” unless specifically stated otherwise, should also be understood to mean X, Y, Z, or combination thereof, including “X, Y, and/or Z.’”

Illustrative examples of the devices, systems, and methods disclosed herein are provided below. An embodiment of the devices, systems, and methods may include one or more, and combination of, the examples described below.

Example 1 includes an apparatus comprising: a switch configured to allocate packet processing resources, from a pool of packet processing resources, to multiple applications, wherein the pool of packet processing resources comprise configurable packet processing pipelines of one or more network devices and packet processing resources of one or more servers.

Example 2 includes one or more examples, wherein the configurable packet processing pipelines and the packet processing resources are to perform one or more of: network switch operations, microservice communications, and/or block storage operations.

Example 3 includes one or more examples, wherein the network switch operations comprise one or more of: application of at least one access control list (ACL), packet forwarding, packet routing, and/or Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) or GENEVE termination.

Example 4 includes one or more examples, wherein the microservice communications comprise one or more of: packet routing between microservices and/or load balancing of utilized micro services.

Example 5 includes one or more examples, wherein the block storage operations comprise one or more of: storage packet forwarding and/or distributed storage path selection.

Example 6 includes one or more examples, wherein the switch is to configure the configurable packet processing pipelines of one or more network devices by issuance of data plane programming software consistent with Programming Protocol-Independent Packet Processors (P4), C, Python, Network Programming Language (NPL), and/or comprises executable binaries.

Example 7 includes one or more examples, wherein the packet processing resources of one or more servers are to perform a virtual network function (VNF).

Example 8 includes one or more examples, and includes the one or more servers, wherein at least one of the one or more servers is to execute at least one application of the multiple applications to access the allocated packet processing resources using Application Owned Networking (AON) and Open vSwitch.

Example 9 includes one or more examples, wherein the one or more network devices comprise one or more of: a network interface controller (NIC), a switch, and/or an infrastructure processing unit (IPU).

Example 10 includes one or more examples, and includes a method comprising: a network device providing packet processing resources, from a pool of packet processing resources, to multiple applications, wherein the pool of packet processing resources comprise configurable packet processing pipelines of one or more network devices and packet processing resources of one or more servers.

Example 11 includes one or more examples, wherein the configurable packet processing pipelines perform one or more of: network switch operations, microservice communications, and/or block storage operations.

Example 12 includes one or more examples, wherein the network switch operations comprise one or more of: application of at least one access control list (ACL), packet forwarding, packet routing, and/or Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) termination.

Example 13 includes one or more examples, wherein the microservice communications comprise one or more of: packet routing between microservices and/or load balancing of utilized micro services.

Example 14 includes one or more examples, wherein the block storage operations comprise one or more of: storage packet forwarding and/or distributed storage path selection.

Example 15 includes one or more examples, and includes configuring the packet processing resources using data plane programming software.

Example 16 includes one or more examples, wherein the data plane programming software is consistent with Programming Protocol-Independent Packet Processors (P4), C, Python, Network Programming Language (NPL), and/or comprises executable binaries.

Example 17 includes one or more examples, wherein the data plane programming software configures match-action entries of the packet processing resources.

Example 18 includes one or more examples, wherein the packet processing resources of one or more servers are to perform a virtual network function (VNF).

Example 19 includes one or more examples, wherein the one or more network devices comprise one or more of: a network interface controller (NIC), a switch, and/or an infrastructure processing unit (IPU).

Example 20 includes one or more examples, wherein: at least one application of the multiple applications is to access the provided packet processing resources using Application Owned Networking (AON) and Open vSwitch. 

1. An apparatus comprising: a switch configured to allocate packet processing resources, from a pool of packet processing resources, to multiple applications, wherein the pool of packet processing resources comprise configurable packet processing pipelines of one or more network devices and packet processing resources of one or more servers.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the configurable packet processing pipelines and the packet processing resources are to perform one or more of: network switch operations, microservice communications, and/or block storage operations.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the network switch operations comprise one or more of: application of at least one access control list (ACL), packet forwarding, packet routing, and/or Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) or GENEVE termination.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the microservice communications comprise one or more of: packet routing between microservices and/or load balancing of utilized microservices.
 5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the block storage operations comprise one or more of: storage packet forwarding and/or distributed storage path selection.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the switch is to configure the configurable packet processing pipelines of one or more network devices by issuance of data plane programming software consistent with Programming Protocol-Independent Packet Processors (P4), C, Python, Network Programming Language (NPL), and/or comprises executable binaries.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the packet processing resources of one or more servers are to perform a virtual network function (VNF).
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising: the one or more servers, wherein at least one of the one or more servers is to execute at least one application of the multiple applications to access the allocated packet processing resources using Application Owned Networking (AON) and Open vSwitch.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more network devices comprise one or more of: a network interface controller (NIC), a switch, and/or an infrastructure processing unit (IPU).
 10. A method comprising: a network device providing packet processing resources, from a pool of packet processing resources, to multiple applications, wherein the pool of packet processing resources comprise configurable packet processing pipelines of one or more network devices and packet processing resources of one or more servers.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the configurable packet processing pipelines perform one or more of: network switch operations, microservice communications, and/or block storage operations.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the network switch operations comprise one or more of: application of at least one access control list (ACL), packet forwarding, packet routing, and/or Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) termination.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the microservice communications comprise one or more of: packet routing between microservices and/or load balancing of utilized microservices.
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein the block storage operations comprise one or more of: storage packet forwarding and/or distributed storage path selection.
 15. The method of claim 10, comprising: configuring the packet processing resources using data plane programming software.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the data plane programming software is consistent with Programming Protocol-Independent Packet Processors (P4), C, Python, Network Programming Language (NPL), and/or comprises executable binaries.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein the data plane programming software configures match-action entries of the packet processing resources.
 18. The method of claim 10, wherein the packet processing resources of one or more servers are to perform a virtual network function (VNF).
 19. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more network devices comprise one or more of: a network interface controller (NIC), a switch, and/or an infrastructure processing unit (IPU).
 20. The method of claim 10, wherein: at least one application of the multiple applications is to access the provided packet processing resources using Application Owned Networking (AON) and Open vSwitch. 